“Promise me…” I grab his collar. “Win and stop the bomb. Do you swear?”
His red pupils shine. “I promise.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and regain consciousness. Hunter zooms around the rooftop, picks up a heavy metal chair, and flings it at me. I scamper out of the way as the chair bounces up and over the ledge.
A cacophony of sirens erupts from the streets below followed by the sound of gunfire echoing through the canyons of skyscrapers that surround us. I assume it’s Gatz and other hybrids leading an assault.
Hunter peers over the edge, then aims an arm at the street below. “Fire ballistic.” A missile jettisons from the suit.
I grab another of the large chairs and leap at him. The chair acts as a battering ram and he’s trapped within the legs. I pin him to the ledge, his back leaning over.
But he bursts forward and bats me with his arm. I gasp for air as my chest is struck with what feels like a truck. Then I black out. When I come to I’m lying on concrete, clouds swirling in the night sky overhead reflecting the neon lights of the city.
Metal footsteps bear down, and suddenly Hunter’s metal fist screams toward my face. I roll to the side. The cement cracks beneath his fist.
“Vance, now.”
My body courses with a frenzied tingling. I raise my head, cry out, and a blue light energy fills me.
I give up control.
Thirty-Eight
“Six minutes until detonation,” says the AI.
Vance gazes down at my hands. I’m like a spectator in my own body with him in the driver’s seat. I see through his eyes, experience the same smells, endure his pain. Is this what he felt like trapped inside me?
Hunter lunges toward Vance/me and lands a punch on my right shoulder that sends us staggering.
Rage boils up inside, and Vance clenches my fists. He sprints toward Hunter, catching him off-guard from behind. Vance manages to scramble onto Hunter’s back, straddles the armored suit, and grips his neck.
Hunter tries to grab my body with both arms, but the suit isn’t designed to reach around.
Vance rips off a panel on the suit’s back, just below the neck, exposing a circuit board.
Hunter roars and surges backward, ramming into a wall.
Vance cries out and loses his grasp around the metal hulk’s neck. My body slumps to the ground.
Vance, I call out. He’s unconscious.
“Four minutes until detonation.”
No, this can’t be happening, I think.
Hunter stomps. Laughter sounds from behind his mask. “You thought you had me, bitch.”
He lifts me under my arms and hoists me up. My head lolls to the side because Vance is still passed out.
Wake up, Vance. I want to climb out of this cell I’m trapped in and fight Hunter myself. Damn it. Why did I give up control?
Hunter strides to the ledge and hovers, positioning my body over the street below. From above, it appears the androids and Scramblers have been disabled, or at least subdued. Gatz must have used the deprogramming command. The hybrids are barricaded behind a concrete wall, and there’s still a standoff with the human solders. “Your friends think they’ve won…”
“Three minutes until detonation.”
Vance begins to stir. Finally. He comes to and cries out when he realizes my body hangs in the air.
“But it won’t matter,” Hunter continues. “When they learn what I’m capable of now.”
Vance, do something.
“I can’t,” Vance answers.
“My soldiers will grow even stronger after seeing me crush the hybrids.”
“Two minutes.”
Vance, I’m taking control again.
Hunter shifts me to face him. “I’ll fix whatever you’ve done to my androids, and I’ll execute every last hybrid I can find for treason.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and conjure the image of the yellow flower. Alkina. I see my blood pumping through Tyren, killing him. Memories, sensations, my encounters with Vance flood me. Gatz’s voice in my ears, I love you.
“How would you like to take the express elevator down to your friends?” Hunter howls.
A pulsating energy erupts inside me. My body starts trembling, then violently shaking.
Inside the mech suit, Hunter rears back, his eyes widen.
Blue energy envelops me.
Vance thrashes inside me again. Then he’s gone. Vanished.
Night wind rushes around me. I’m inside my body again, fully aware that I’m about to fall to a gruesome death. At the mercy of a madman.
I calm my body, and stare into Hunter’s eyes. “Rassvet,” I say.
The cyber mech suit twitches. A high-pitched whirring noise sounds an alert. Digital computations flash across the armor’s visor. Inside, Hunter scowls.
Then the suit maneuvers onto the deck, descending. It places me down gently.
Inside, Hunter screams and struggles to control the suit, but the mech strides toward a glass pane, studying its reflection. It places a hand on the glass. Does it know what it is? That it nearly killed me?
The suit spins around and ejects Hunter. His body crumples to the ground, and he covers his head, cowering before the suit.
I grab a rifle and aim at Hunter as the elevator door flies open. Gatz, Paul, and Lucy rush in. They subdue Murphy and the soldiers, then watch in awe as the now-empty cyber suit neatly folds itself up, becoming a helmet resting on the floor.
“One minute until detonation.”
“Cover him,” I yell as I sprint to the command console. I study the screen and find a disable command.
I punch it.
“Forty-eight seconds.”
The clock keeps going.
“Gatz! I need help.”
The AI voice resumes, “Biometric identification required to disable detonation.”
“Get Hunter,” I yell.
Gatz and Paul lift him by the shoulders and drag him to the console. Paul yanks Hunter’s hand up and thrusts his palm onto the screen. Hunter whines.
“Thirty seconds until detonation.”
“It’s not working,” Paul cries out. “Uncle Will, why won’t it disable?”
The Colonel presses his lips tight. Paul pushes him against the console and this time, presses on top of Hunter’s hand.
“Twenty seconds.”
“Ida! Gatz, do something,” Lucy yells.
Paul releases Hunter and backs away, shuddering. The Colonel falls to the floor and curls into a fetal position.
Gatz leaps onto Hunter, brandishing his massive wolf claws as he grips the man’s throat. “Tell me,” he snarls, “how to turn these goddamn bombs off.”
The sharp edges draw tiny beads of blood from Will’s neck. With huge eyes he stammers, “P-p-password.”
“Tell me.” Gatz growls, leaning into Hunter’s crazed face.
“Vance Drem.”
Paul grips the edges of the console. “Vance Drem,” he speaks into the screen.
“Password accepted.”
A few seconds pass and we hold our breath.
“Detonation averted,” the computer AI chirps.
We erupt into cheers. Lucy jumps into the air. “Holy shit, we did it!”
Gatz shouts into his comms. “Pilar, you there? We disarmed it. The drones are disarmed and returning to HQ. Section H is safe. I repeat, Section H is safe.”
I fall to my knees in relief. We came so close. Hunter nearly destroyed the hybrids.
Paul kicks his uncle on the ground. The large man’s body flails, and his eyes dart around searching for his soldiers. Paul grabs Hunter’s collar and hits him in the jaw with a mean hook. “Monster. You nearly killed us all!” Then he spits on him as Hunter crawls away on his knees, shielding his head from more blows.
Gatz places an arm on Paul’s chest. “Enough. We’ll make sure he gets justice.”
I struggle for breath. Vance?
He seems to have vanished. But is he really gone? He’s been a
part of me for so long, I can’t remember what it felt like without him haunting my every thought.
A vision comes to me. A military tribunal convenes. Hunter wears a black suit. The court announces its ruling…innocent.
But how? A technicality?
My pulse surges and my adrenaline spikes. I race forward and scoop up the cyber helmet, pulling it down over my head. The metal slides over me, folds in and around the contours of my body like a wetsuit. Suddenly I’m flying as I leap across the room and shove Gatz to the side.
“Hey—” he yells. Lucy and Paul duck for cover.
I yank Hunter up and off the ground. He weighs practically nothing. I fly to the edge and land on the railing. I dangle Hunter over the street below. City lights sparkle all around him.
He grabs onto my arm. “Pl-please!” His red-rimmed eyes plead with me while his legs flail.
Behind me, I hear the others approach.
“Ida, what are you doing?” Panic in Gatz’s voice.
“He won’t get a fair trial.” My computer-generated voice sounds hollow, distant. “He’ll get away with it.”
“No,” argues Gatz. “We’ll see that the trial is fair, above-board. No tricks. No military interference.”
“He murdered Tyren.”
“And countless others. He’ll rot in jail.”
“He deserves to die.” I loosen my grip somewhat. His jacket slips farther through my steel hands. He twists and struggles, glimpsing down in horror.
I enjoy his torture. Revel in it.
Is this what I am? Has Vance changed me into a murderous monster?
“Ida.” Lucy’s gentle voice breaks my concentration. She’s close behind me. “Ida, listen to me. Remember what you told me at the pond that day.”
Hunter’s jacket begins to rip. He’s holding onto my robot wrist now.
“You said you’d stop using your power if it meant not hurting people,” she says. “Vance has corrupted you. But you’re still you.”
Hunter’s grip weakens. He slips and hangs by one hand now, flailing, his eyes bulging.
“You’re not a killer, Ida.”
I’m not Vance. Yet the urge to murder Hunter consumes me. Not in front of Lucy, I tell myself. She’s the only thing stopping me from dropping him to his death. Her shock—her inevitable sadness—will be more than I can bear. I’ll seek my vengeance another time. Soon.
I swing my other arm out and catch Hunter by the wrist as he loses his grasp. Dragging him up, I toss him to the rooftop where he crumples.
Hovering five feet above, I gaze down at Gatz, Lucy, and Paul.
I’m different from everyone. I’ll never be normal, content, or happy.
Changed forever in a lab, I was designed to be a weapon. But the scientists failed the first time. Now they got what they wanted. I’m a weapon. A killer.
Now I know my destiny.
I’ll serve justice to the scientists using my deadly touch. The touch they gave me.
I soar into the night sky until my friends become a speck in the distance.
Thirty-Nine
One month later
Lucy marches onto a raised platform in front of the assembled group of thirty young soldiers. Bright sun illuminates flecks of red in her long, braided hair. I’ve never seen her this way; she looks intense, authoritative. I'm impressed.
A mix of hybrids and humans, the troops are new recruits, many of whom witnessed Colonel Hunter’s regime, eager to make a fresh start.
She addresses the group. “Our first lesson is how to stand when you’re preparing for hand-to-hand combat.”
I observe from a distance as she delivers one of the first lessons I taught her when we started our fight lessons. What feels like ages ago was just a few years. Before everything that happened with Vance, my coma, and then Hunter.
I want to watch longer, but I have a meeting. I journey into the marine command center, now located on the second floor with a great open view of the Spark City river.
In the lobby, a variety of species—hybrids, androids, men and women—work together to rebuild the damage done by Hunter. As they patch walls and paint, the place feels alive, full of activity and energy. The city will be stronger.
I skip the elevator and take the stairs two at a time. On the second floor, I enter a massive command center room that looks like the bridge of a starship.
Paul presides at the head of a long table. He’s clean shaven and appears years older than nineteen. One of the youngest commanders in the history of the marines, Paul makes a striking leader. He offered me a promotion to major, but I refused. I want no part of the military.
I salute him. “Sir.”
“Ida.” He smiles. “Today's the day?”
I nod. “My bike?”
“As you requested, it’s outside parked on the street ready for you to load up. So’s the other bike.”
“Good, thanks.” I rock back on my heels, not sure what else to say.
“You sure you want to do this?”
“Positive.”
“Well, I'd rather have you stay here and help me lead, but I understand…”
I shove my hands in my pocket, not wanting to have this conversation again.
“Off the record, if there’s still a chance you'd want to stay here in Spark City, or come back and serve again in the marines, just say the word.”
“Paul, we've been over this. Trust me, I've gone through it a million times in my head. Finding the labs, destroying my DNA is the only way I can make sure…” I swallow. “Make sure I don’t hurt people.”
He studies my expression, then lowers his eyes. “You said your farewell to Lucy and Vera?”
“Yes.” I know his next question.
“What about Gatz?”
I glance away. “What about him? There's nothing to say.”
“He's come to me several times, sent messages.” Paul pulls my arm, forces me to meet his gaze. “He doesn't understand why you don't want to see him.”
“Leaving is hard enough, Paul. I don’t want to make things worse. It’s better if I just leave.”
“So, that’s it? You're not going to meet with him. No message? At least tell him goodbye?”
“No.”
“I hope you don’t regret it,” he says.
“You'll make a good commander, Paul. What you went through with your uncle…Most soldiers never face that kind of test.”
“Yeah. I wish I’d stood up to him earlier. I hope he enjoys rotting in his prison cell.”
“I'm sure it’s been hard for you.”
Paul flushes.
“On another topic, where are you taking Lucy on your first date?”
He puts an arm around my shoulders and walks with me. “So, I was thinking a romantic picnic at the museum next to the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton.”
“Wow, you sure know how to make a girl swoon. Good luck with that.” I give him a soft punch on his arm. “I'm sure she'll love it. She's weird like that.”
He laughs and blushes.
“I hate goodbyes, so I'm out of here.” I spin to leave.
He grabs my arm. “Be careful, Ida. I expect frequent updates. If you need back up…”
“Hey, I’ve got my trusty sidekicks, remember? They’re all the backup I’ll need.” I give him a final salute before I leave.
After retrieving my backpack, I tread past Lucy’s initiation class again. She tosses me a glance. I wave, and she winks. We’ve said our goodbyes. She was stronger than I thought she’d be.
In the last few months, she’s grown up a lot. She understands why I'm leaving, and best of all, she accepts why I don't want to talk to Gatz. Only she knows how much it hurt to have Vance inside me, knowing I couldn't control him.
She’s seen Gatz nearly every day and gives me a report. He’s been reinstated as mayor of Spark City again. An election will follow in a year, but for now, he’s savoring his role as leader again. After Hunter’s defeat, martial law was revoked, and the hybrids were s
et free to move about the city again.
The entirety of Vance’s androids have been given the de-programming command, freeing them from their destructive coding, and the city council elected to bestow on them a set of rights protecting them as a new class of citizens. In exchange, they agreed to abide by a law to never hurt humans or hybrids.
Most humans have fled the city. Too many rights bestowed to those who are different. Hunter’s brainwashing went deep, and some of it may never be undone. The city has peace for now.
But I won’t have peace until I find the medical labs where scientists held me captive. Where they created hybrids. I’m leaving Spark City and traveling across the country to the desert, but I won’t be alone.
The doctors who tortured me and countless others will pay. I’ll hunt them down one by one if I have to.
So, I'm finally leaving Spark City like I’d originally planned.
I just wish it didn't hurt so damn much to leave.
I couldn’t bring myself to see much of Gatz after the night on the roof. He had witnessed me at my lowest. In a rage, I nearly killed Hunter. It wasn’t Vance acting. It was me.
Hunter deserved to die. I only stopped because of what Lucy said.
The scientists I’m hunting deserve to die.
Gatz and Lucy think I’m not a killer, but they’re wrong.
And Vance? Gone for now, but he's somewhere still inside me, buried deep. Locked away. I practice mind training three times a day now. Paul told me about a brilliant psychologist in Arizona who specializes in tough cases. Maybe I’ll pay him a visit.
Vance changed me forever. I’ll never touch someone with bare hands again.
Luckily, I kept the hand that Hunter maimed. When he shot several of my fingers off my left hand, I opted not to have a prosthesis. Paul and Lucy tried to convince me it would be state-of-the-art, no side effects. But after my experience with Vance, I couldn’t bear to have metal fingers like his. I’ll make do with three fewer fingers.
It hurts to leave Gatz without saying goodbye, but I must. I love him, but I can’t touch him. What’s the point of loving someone you can’t ever be with? Screw that.
Better for everyone if I get the hell out of Spark City. Like I said, I’ll never be normal or carefree. Not when my mission is to bring justice to the men behind the labs.
The Rogue Spark series Box Set Page 41